Help - need advice quickly, not sure what to do .

[SirVixofVixHall]

I have an elderly aunt, 73, who lives alone. In good health but very bad knees that limit her mobility a lot. She is very old fashioned, but she does use an ipad and facebook messenger, although she doesn’t often message me and her messages are usually quite brief. We chat on the telephone every few weeks.
I was out walking the dog but came home and there is a message from her, sent at 9.20pm, just saying this.
Stock k
again
That is all it says, i saw it about half an hour ago, assumed she has mis typed, and replied asking if all was ok and telling her I would call in the morning. But it suddenly occurred to me, what if she means “stuck” ? That she could have fallen. I live a long way from her, two and a half hour drive. If I call her she won’t answer as she is probably in bed, so it will really frighten her. The telephone is downstairs. She has a mobile that she rarely uses and I don’t know the number. I think that she has a button alarm thing, but I am not certain. She has a man locally who helps her with her shopping etc, and she would probably try to get him in an emergency.
What to do ?

Phoning the 101 usually gets me through to speak to someone in person pretty quickly.

No help for now OP, but my DM has an alarm thing on her wrist that she can press if she falls. It notifies an alarm centre that contacts NOK or ambulance if they can't get a response when they call the frail person.

Have texted him but no reply, think he is driving again.on hold to the police.
Thanks so much everyone, I am v worried now that she didn’t answer the telephone.

Hope you hear back soon op.

Does her friend have a key to the house?

A word of warning OP. I had an elderly aunt who had an alarm thingy she wore round her neck. It went off one night and the company who monitored them called the police who went round to check on her. There was no answer when they knocked, so they broke a pane of glass in the door and found her in bed, absolutely fine. The alarm had somehow gone off by accident.
My aunt was absolutely furious.

Better that than she be lying on the floor unable to move all night though!

I wouldn’t call 999 if someone sent me a message with a typo in it. My gran sends me those kind of nonsense messages all the time. They’re nothing to do with needing help, just to do with her poor grasp of technology.

I'd call the police. No qualms about doing it either. If she's ok then frankly she needs to consider sorting out communication, whether that's a personal alarm system, actually taking a mobile phone around with her or just not sending daft messages.
Hope it all resolves quickly op.

Nobody has suggested 999 though.

Hope you've had an answer by now op.

Hmm, tough one. I think you are doing the right thing calling the police though. My first thought was also stuck, but it may have been an attempt to say stroke.

I'd ask the man you are in contact with to drive by and see if she has any lights on at least.

I talked it through with the police and they are sending someone there now. Very helpful and kind. ( this was through 101) .
I have texted the man to see if he has a key, or she has a keysafe fitted, but no reply yet.
I am hoping it was a “poor grasp of tech” typo, that is quite possible, but as she has been stuck on the floor in the past I am too worried to not get her checked, even if it gives her a bit of a fright.

Oh god I hope she's OK. It's a terrible worry not been able to get through. Hopefully the man or the police can check.

Glad to hear someone is going to check on her OP, really hope she is ok x

Police are outside the house now.
Sounds as though she may be answering so I hope all ok.

Butt dial /text hopefully.

Praying for good news OP x

She is fine ! She was fast asleep. She does sound a bit confused, but then she has just been woken up by the police. She said she was having problems with the messenger and then fell asleep, so I wonder if she is on stronger pain medication.
Anyway am very relieved, and the police were really great.
Huge thank you to all of you . X

Phew .

Thank goodness! Well done for checking, it was the right thing to do. Time for a talk soon about how to sound the alarm in the future!

Was following and getting increasingly concerned. What a relief.

As a single woman, this thread has struck a cord. Your aunt doesn’t seem to have much of a support network. Has she planned for her later years? You are too far away to be any real support, does she have any other relatives closer by?

Please dont ever think twice about calling the police... my DH is an officer and his whole ethic is that hes there to make sure people are safe .

So pleased she's okay! And whilst the police performing the welfare check might have thrown her a bit, it was definately the way to go for her safety. I'd broach the subject of a pendant alarm system if she'd be willing moving forward? My mum (81) lives very independently, but has health issues and a previous history of falls. She's had a keysafe fitted to her house, and wears a pull pendant (very light weight non intrusive) which offers a call service for approx £7pwk (I know this isn't in everyone's budget) where if she pulls it it rings her 3 designated numbers continously until someone answers.

Fantastic news!